That Night [Unabridged] [Paperback]

Alice McDermott (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: 1987

DAVID LEAVITT, IN HIS NEW YORK TIMES BOOK REVIEW, DESCRIBES THIS BOOK AS FOLLOWS: "SPLENDID. sOMETHING NEW ENTIRELY . . . A SLIM NOVEL OF ALMOST 19TH-CENTURY RICHNESS, A NOVEL THAT CELEBRATES THE LIFE OF ITS SUBURBAN WORLD AT THE SAME TIME THAT IT MOURNS THAT WORLD'S FAILURES AND DISAPPOINTMENTS . . ."

Product Details

• Paperback: 184 pages
• Publisher: Harper Collins (1987)
• Language: English
• ASIN: B000E4C4ZQ
• Product Dimensions: 7.8 x 5.3 x 0.5 inches
• Shipping Weight: 8 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 3.7 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (24 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #3,982,426 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

16 of 17 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Wonderful!, December 3, 2000

By A Customer

This review is from: That Night (Paperback)

This is one of my all time favorites. I first read it when I was barely out of my teens and identified with Sheryl, the teenager who becomes pregnant and is sent away to live with relatives. Now, as a suburban mother, I identify with the mothers whose lives- dashed hopes and dreams - and those of their husbands and children are so vividly described in McDermott's uncanny way of creating a visual and lyrical snapshot of suburban life in the sixties.

Alice McDermott really gets it right. Early love and the inevitable loss of it colors the way we think for the rest of our lives. The memories this novel brings back to me are so strong that this is one of the few books I re-read every few months.

8 of 8 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Loved This Book!, November 25, 2002

By A Customer

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: That Night (Paperback)

I loved this book! I graduated from high school in 1959 and this book took me back, no doubt about it. I knew a couple of girls who got pregnant while still in school, and it was as terrible as is depicted in this book. (Thank goodness for progress and change.....) This book has very strong, well-developed, definitive characters, especially the young narrator. I can still feel the book as if I lived in the neighborhood......

7 of 7 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Fabulous! I'd like to see this one back in print., July 7, 1998

By A Customer

This review is from: That Night (Unbound)

Rick and Sheryl are high school sweethearts involved in an intense love affair. When Sheryl discovers that she's pregnant, her mother sends her away, not even giving Sheryl a chance to say goodbye to her beloved. When Rick comes to find -- he hopes to rescue -- Sheryl from her mother's home, a fight ensues. The narrator is Sheryl's neighbor, who was a little girl at the time of the fight, and who found Rick and Sheryl's relationship utterly romantic and fascinating at the time. Her memories of the fight, and of that summer, are long-lasting, and she describes those memories in that way that makes them seem to glow a little more softly as the time has passed. The book recaptures lost youth, and at the same time makes us realize that our youth is truly irretrievable. I love this book even more now than when I first read it in 1987! (FYI, the book is by Alice McDermott.)